New
by Puritina
Summary: Chantay admits to the real reason why she cut her dreads off.


**New**

_"I'm sorry to inform you...but there was nothing more that we could do to help her. Your mother did not survive. I'm very sorry," the doctor informed her. _

_"Mrs. Black will be forever missed," the pastor said. _

_"We'll get through this," her cousin Dave told her. _

It felt like it had been just yesterday since Chantay's mother had passed away. But in reality it had already been a few weeks. She was so used to seeing her every day. She was so used to talking to her, and telling her about her problems. She was grateful that she still had her father, but it would never be the same for her, and she didn't know how to deal with it.

She sat down at the beauty shop, Anti-Grapevine long forgotten, as well as everything else in her life. All she could think about was her mother. Numerous texts from Dave pushing her to talk about it wasn't helping either. She sighed as she closed her eyes and they washed her hair.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Your hair is so beautiful." A lady with dreads similar to hers smiled at her though she couldn't see it.

She only nodded. She was sure. She wanted to do this.

After washing her hair and seating her in another part of the shop, she let her look at the mirror. She was a little alarmed by her face. She didn't look as cheerful as she normally would, and there was this sadness in her eyes that she couldn't take away.

"Last time and I'm sorry to be a bother but I'm just checking. Are you sure?" the lady pushed.

Chantay could feel herself getting annoyed. She wanted the lady to just do it already before she changed her mind. She stared into the mirror and nodded again, "I need this." And she was being honest.

Every memory that she had with her mother was bound closely to her dreads in a way. She had gotten them when she was younger. Her mother always did them for her. She believed that it showed off her natural beauty. And she had stated to her on more than one occasion that everyone else in her family thought of dreads as ugly, or disgusting. They wanted her hair to be straight like theirs, and they excluded her from many parties and family activities because of her choice.

Chantay thought it was stupid. All for some hair. But the fact that her mother had opened up to her and told her about this, made them that much closer. As time passed they became even closer. Both of them grew together as their dreads grew with them.

But now she was cutting off all ties with those memories. Because as joyful as they were, they only brought pain to her now. As she reflected on this she hadn't even noticed the chopping of her long hair now gone. She hadn't noticed as they took out her dreads and washed her now completely natural hair.

Mrs. Everett, the lady who had been doing her hair the entire time, tapped her on the shoulder, noticing that she was deep in thought.

She jumped a little and the lady smiled, "Must have been thinking hard. But look hun, your hair is done. I personally like the dreads better but-"

"It's wonderful!" she exclaimed as she stared at the mirror.

She felt different. New, and ready for a fresh new start. The old had passed away and now she could go into a new year of school with a different light about her.

As the lady cleaned up her hair she felt like she was sweeping away every memory that she had with her mother. She felt herself getting teary eyed, but smiled regardless. This was what she wanted after all. A new beginning. A new start. And despite the death of her mother, she knew that she would want Chantay to continue living her life.

**I just really wanted to write something for Chantay. I feel like she is the most under-appreciated character in Degrassi. And sometimes, she's the one who gets the most hate (I personally don't understand why, she didn't do much on the show). Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed. I thought it was kind of hard to get her characterization down because we didn't get to hear much about her, but I tried my best. Thanks for reading!**


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